Stay home, wash your hands, wear a mask, but what about a sudden loss of intimacy?

BIRDS AND BEES: Spring has sprung in Hackensack, N.J., but sexual intimacy is out of bounds during the Covid-19 pandemic, so I find myself spending more time waiting on line to get into Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, N.J., below, and other food stores. 

PANIC BUYING: Last week, I lined up behind other Costco members wearing masks and gloves to get into the warehouse during special senior hours, only to find shortages of some of my favorite items. So, are cooking and eating comfort food the only pleasures we have left? 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Before the Covid-19 pandemic altered my life and the lives of millions of other older Americans, I spent most of my time shopping for food and volunteering at a hospital.

After the hospital's Volunteer Office closed, I and millions of others were told to stay home, wash our hands frequently and not to touch our faces -- or, presumably, our wives' face.

So, I made sure to touch my wife only below her neck.

But as we spend so much more time together, are all forms of affection and sex out of bounds?

Are cunnilingus and fellatio safer than intercourse? 

If all forms of affection and sexual intimacy are dangerous, what is left?

Comfort food? 

Are cooking and eating too much all we have left as we try to stay safe from this killer virus?

'Don't Panic, Eat Organic' are wise words to live by during the pandemic or any time

DIRTY DOZEN: I buy organic strawberries at Whole Foods Market in Paramus because conventionally grown strawberries top the Dirty Dozen, 12 crops that farmers typically use the most pesticides on, according to the Environmental Working Group. And they are most likely to contain pesticide residue even after they are washed, AARP says.

CHEAPER THAN AT COSTCO:  I also buy Organic Carrots at Whole Foods Market because they are cheaper by the pound at the Paramus supermarket than they are at Costco Wholesale in Teterboro.

AARP article distills new book

on organic food, eating local

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- With the U.S. death toll from the Covid-19 virus passing 50,000, many of us are spending more time at home preparing our own meals and taking another look at what we eat.

Many people in quarantine are stocking up and binging on cookies, cakes and other sweets, according to news reports.

But in my home, we are pretty much staying the course, trying to buy as many organics as possible and eating only wild-caught seafood, and meat and poultry free of harmful antibiotics.

Now, AARP, the nonprofit interest group for older Americans, is exploring whether the health benefits of eating organic and locally grown food are worth the cost.

The short answer is yes.

Eating organic

"Why Eating Organic Matters" is the main headline over an article in the March 2020 issue of AARP Bulletin, a glossy tabloid, adapted from a book by Mark Bittman and Dr. David L. Katz.

The book, "How to Eat: All Your Food and Diet Questions Answered," cites a recent study in France, where researchers found "a significant difference in cancer incidence between those who eat organic routinely versus those who don't," AARP reports.

"Those people who ate organic had the least cancer, as you'd expect," according to the article.

ORGANIC V. NON-ORGANIC: Organic apples can have no more than 5% of the pesticides in conventional produce, but 80 percent of non-organic apples are treated with diphenylamine, which is banned by the European Union as a potential carcinogen, AARP says.

If you can't afford organic?

"A non-organic apple is better than no apple, and better than most other choices," the AARP article reports.

"So, yes, get the non-organic apples and wash them well [to reduce pesticide residue]. It's almost safe to say, 'Never pass up an apple.'"

As for eating local, AARP says, "No one but a fanatic could eat only local food, but concentrating on these attributes would mean you are eating better, more ethically, more sustainably."

"If you know your produce is being grown on a local farm where chemicals are not being used, you know that you are avoiding those chemicals," AARP reports.

Grass-fed animals

"When animals graze on grass, as opposed to grains, they keep the soil healthy and produce better meat."

"And pasture-raised animals may have lower risks of industrial food-borne scourges, like E. coli 0157:H7, a strain that can cause severe infection and even kidney failure," the AARP article says.

The article concludes:

"It's ... important to have a plant-dominant diet, along with balance and variety."

Costco Wholesale carries 100% grass-fed burgers (beef or lamb), Polish sausage and sirloin steak.

AARP headlines

Thanks to AARP Bulletin for the headline on this post, "Don't Panic, Eat Organic."

But I disagree with a subheadline that says "organic and locally grown foods are all the rage."

The organic movement began decades ago, and residents of New Jersey (and many other states) have always prized local food, including Jersey tomatoes, corn, wild-caught fish and other seafood.

I'd also like to point out the Your Health article on why eating organic matters contrasts with others AARP has published in recent years on food of dubious quality:

Read: The last place seniors

 should go for nutrition advice 

MORE AFFORDABLE: On Thursday, I shopped for organics at Whole Foods Market in Paramus during the senior hour -- 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.  Above, as an Amazon Prime member, this woman, like me, gets special deals and an extra 10% off on sale items. I also get 5% cash back by using the Amazon Prime credit card to pay for my purchases.

LINING UP TO SHOP: At 9 a.m., a long line of shoppers under 60 year old began to enter the natural and organic food supermarket.

TURNING A CORNER: The line wrapped around the corner of the building at the Bergen Town Center.

Costco magic may be melting away amid rush and crush of Covid-19 panic shopping

LINING UP TO SHOP: This morning, I stood on one of 3 lines split off from a fourth line of Costco Wholesale members who showed up at the warehouse in Teterboro, N.J., during the hour reserved for people 60 years old and older like me.

 Why isn't the special hour 

for seniors in force every day? 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- My decades-long love affair with Costco Wholesale was sorely tested today.

I showed up at the Teterboro warehouse during the special hour reserved for shoppers 60 years old and older (like me) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, hoping the line would be shorter.

Instead, I found a long, serpentine line and no signs to help me navigate.

I had to ask employees in the parking lot where the line began, then show my I.D. to a police officer, before realizing to my horror that the line I was on was being split into 3 other lines. 

I asked Costco

Checkout went much smoother, but I question why the special senior hours (8 a.m. to 9 a.m.) are available only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Aren't seniors one of the biggest, if not the biggest, slice of the membership in the warehouse club?

When I posed those questions in an email to a spokeswoman at Costco headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., she replied:

"As you can imagine, Costco has received several requests from the media for more information about how Costco is handling the surge of interest in response to the coronavirus as well as our measures to provide a safe environment.

"Costco is not staffed to respond individually to all those questions."

First day?

When I saw so many older members like me on the line this morning, I thought this was the first day the special hours went into effect.

In fact, an employee in the parking lot using a bullhorn apologized for the long line, saying Costco didn't anticipate such a robust turnout.

But when I called the administrative staff later, a woman told me the special senior hours have been in effect for "weeks."

Organics

An increasing number of organic products at great prices have made me a loyal Costco shopper in recent years, including the items I purchased today:

Kirkland Signature Organic Quinoa from Peru (4.5  pounds for $10.89), Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix (1 pound for $3.89, 10 cents less than in 2005), Earthbound Farm Organic Spinach (1 pound for $5.49), Organic Kiwis and Organic Bananas (3 pounds for $1.99).

Other great items in my cart included a tray of fresh, wild-caught Monkfish, harvested in the United States ($6.99 a pound), Polish Sausage made with 100% grass-fed beef; and a bag of raw, sodium-free, steam-pasteurized California Almonds (3 pounds for $12.79) that I roast in the oven and dust with Vietnamese cinnamon (another Costco product). 

Out of stock

But in recent weeks, Costco hasn't been able consistently to keep a large number of other items in stock.

For example, no toilet paper was to be had today.

But the warehouse offers other items of only limited appeal, including a 1-pound package of dried Sea Cucumber from Canada ($44.99) that I saw today. 

Even more annoying than that during the pandemic is that Costco continues to move items around in the cavernous warehouse to create what is referred to as a "treasure hunt." 

That ensures members have to walk every aisle to find items on their shopping list and in the process, Costco hopes, discover and purchase impulse items.

Today, as in previous visits to the Teterboro warehouse and the Costco Business Center in Hackensack, I haven't been able to practice the social distancing recommended during the pandemic, even though aisles are wider than in a traditional supermarket.

It would help to make aisles one-way, as they are at the ShopRite in Paramus.

Read: Grocers aren't always ready

 for early business

SOCIAL DISTANCING: At checkout, a Costco employee enforced social distancing, but even the wide aisles in the warehouse make keeping 6 feet apart difficult, because members are searching for their favorite items, which aren't always in the same place.

FOR SEA CUCUMBER FANS: The warehouse was out of toilet paper, but offered a 1-pound package of dried Atlantic Sea Cucumber for $44.99.

PLEXIGLASS BARRIERS: Costco has done an excellent job using plexiglass barriers to separate employees of the membership and returns desks, above, as well as those at registers and at exits, from shoppers.

Grocers give preference to older shoppers, but not all are ready for the early business

PROTECTING EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS: At the Whole Foods Market in Paramus this morning, employees arriving for work had to stop to have their temperature checked, one of the measures put in place in response to the coronavirus pandemic.  

NO LONGER A GATHERING PLACE: The seating area where the mandatory temperature checks are made once was filled with shoppers stopping for coffee or eating lunch from the prepared food buffets. Regulars included groups of elderly Korean-American men brought to the store in small buses from senior citizen centers.

Editor's note: This post has been edited to add material about the reopening of the Korean  supermarket in Ridgefield known as H Mart,  and one-way aisles at the ShopRite in Paramus. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Did you hear about the Whole Foods Market near Jupiter, Fla., where customers 60 years old and older are the only ones allowed to shop in the first hour the natural and organic food store is open?

After 9 a.m., the supermarket is empty -- given how few young people live in nearby retirement communities.

In New Jersey, however, there are plenty of younger customers at the Whole Foods in Paramus, where I shopped this morning starting at around 8:30 a.m.,during the hour devoted to older Americans.

A week ago, I waited on a long line of other shoppers like me who are 60 years old or older and who had been waiting -- 6 feet apart -- for the 8 a.m. store opening. 

Today, around 8:30, I just showed my I.D. to the employee outside the front doors, and walked in to get a cart and sanitary wipes.

Costco Wholesale in Teterboro, ShopRite supermarkets and the Korean supermarket chain known as H Mart also are giving preference to older shoppers in their first hour of business.

At the Costco Business Center in Hackensack, "senior hours" are 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Costco and other food stores also have changed their policies on returns, and most won't be accepting them during the pandemic.

The Paramus ShopRite's special hours for older Americans are 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. That sounds more like punishment than accommodation.

H Mart reopens

But I haven't seen any other supermarket outside of Whole Foods that checks the temperature of employees as soon as they walk in the front door.

On April 4, the large Korean supermarket known as H Mart in Ridgefield closed temporarily for cleaning and restocking after an employee came down with a "suspected" case of the coronavirus, according to a notice on the front door I saw last Sunday.

After the store reopened on April 16, only customers 60 years and older were given priority in the first 30 minutes the store is open.

Previously, shoppers "with disabilities, compromised immune systems and expectant mothers," as well as customers who are 60+, were able to shop by themselves in the first hour.

Signs of trouble

Today, as with my shopping trip to Whole Foods on a week earlier, I found missing or inaccurate price signs in produce and fresh seafood.

Besides apples, sweet potatoes and parsley -- all organic -- I picked up mangoes, clementines and a few pounds of boneless pork loin chops after I saw the chops were on sale for $5.99 a pound (normally $8.99 a pound).

But when I checked my receipt, I saw I wasn't given the discount for the chops or the extra 10% off for Amazon Prime Members.

I had to hunt down a customer service employee (no one was at the customer service desk). She took my receipt and went to the butcher section in the rear of the store, then returned to give me a credit of $15.59, including 1 pound free and my extra 10% Prime discount.

SAFETY BARRIER: Today, I saw large plexiglass barriers put up to separate the cashier from the customer at Whole Foods Market. Costco Wholesale in Teterboro and the Costco Business Center in Hackensack had similar barriers in place at the end of March. Another benefit is that Whole Foods customers no longer have to self-scan their Prime Member code on their smartphones, which was a ify proposition, because the new barrier blocks the scanner.

SOCIAL DISTANCING: This customer had a shopping cart full of produce and other items and packed them all by himself. But at Whole Foods, Costco and ShopRite, social distancing or keeping 6 feet away from other customers is difficult because of narrow aisles and shoppers who barge through store intersections with full shopping carts. Customers of the Paramus ShopRite largely ignore one-way aisles.

TODAY AT 9:20 A.M.: When I drove away from Whole Foods Market, I paused to look at the younger shoppers waiting on line to get into the store.

Covid-19 pandemic: Line up at food stores, eat too much, but repairmen come to me

PERSONAL PROTECTION: Just after 8 a.m. today, I found wipes and gloves inside the entrance to Whole Foods Market in Paramus. Since March 18, only shoppers 60 years old and older have been allowed into the supermarket between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. -- special hours for an "at-risk population," the natural-and-organic-foods company says.

MUST SHOW ID: As I was leaving the store a half-hour later, another 60+ shopper showed his identification -- a requirement -- to the Whole Foods employee at the entrance. Below, you have to read the sign carefully to learn the store hours haven't changed -- they're still 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., if you're 60 years old or older.

ORGANIC PRODUCE: On my shopping trip this morning, I found a good selection of organic produce, including apples, sweet potatoes, arugula and parsley, but no store brand of organic spaghetti or other long pasta. And there were no Prime Member Deals available in the butcher section with beef, pork and other meat.

N.J. governor orders all residents

to wear masks in grocery stores

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I'm doing less food shopping, but standing on lines a lot more, as supermarkets regulate the number of people allowed inside.

I'm cooking and eating more, but we still haven't ordered takeout or delivery from our favorite restaurants in or near Hackensack.

Since the Friday the 13th declaration of a national emergency to fight the coronavirus epidemic in March, our lives have become more sedentary, and that has led to weight gain, boredom and sleep disruptions.

But we're eating well, and trying to buy as much organic and non-GMO food as possible.

I shopped at Whole Foods Market in Paramus this morning, and later in the day Governor Murphy signed an executive order requiring all residents to wear masks in grocery stores "to try to decrease the spread of coronavirus in some of the only businesses that remain open," according to a news account.

Shortages

I've encountered lines and shortages at Costco Wholesale warehouses in Hackensack and Teterboro; Whole Foods and ShopRite -- the places where we spend most of our food dollars.

And do we spend: 

Our family of four has 3 meat eaters and 1 pescatarian (me). 

We often prepare two breakfasts and dinners -- one for my wife, son and mother-in-law, all of whom eat beef, pork and poultry; and a second one for me.

I favor wild-caught seafood, egg-white omelets stuffed with smoked salmon and spinach; big salads, organic pasta and produce, organic quinoa and reduced-fat cheese. I haven't eaten poultry, beef or lamb since 2010.

Victor's Healthy Kitchen

About 2 years ago, I began posting cooking videos at Victor's Healthy Kitchen on YouTube that reflect my love for healthy food, and I continue to do so.

Lately, the videos have shown the disruptions in daily life caused by the pandemic -- all a reminder of the many deaths in nearby hospitals, including the one where I served as a volunteer for 8 years before the program was suspended about a month ago.

See: Victor's Healthy Kitchen

I started writing about food in 1999, when I worked at The Record of Hackensack, and continued to do so after I left the newspaper, launching a food blog in 2009 to explore the evils of factory farms, harmful antibiotics in farm animals, and the widespread use of cancer-causing pesticides on produce.

See: Do You Really Know What You're Eating?

Lines everywhere

On Monday afternoon, I drove to the Costco Warehouse in Teterboro, and found other members lined up single file with shopping carts, and eventually, employees outside herded us into 4 lines.

The wait to get into the warehouse was only about 15 minutes, but I found shortages.

A Costco employee wiped down my shopping cart handle as I joined the line, and inside the store, masked and gloved employees at registers and exits were separated from shoppers by plexiglass, and social distancing signs were everywhere.

I was able to find fresh wild-caught Mahi-Mahi from Ecuador, and a 1-pound package of organic spinach, but there was no Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farm.

I used the Mahi-Mahi the next day prepare a large pot of Butterfly Pasta with 4 Fishes that all of us ate for dinner.

THE ZISAS: Hackensack High School teacher Anthony Zisa, left, and his father, Ken, the disgraced former Hackensack police chief and Democratic state assemblyman, waiting on line at the Costco Wholesale warehouse in Teterboro on March 31. Below, businesses in the Fairmount section of Hackensack have been closed temporarily by the pandemic.

MICROWAVE REPAIR: On Tuesday morning, a GE repairman came to our home to investigate a loud buzzing noise when the door of our 30-inch Advantium Microwave Oven is closed, and then ordered the parts to repair the appliance. He's due back to make the repair next week.

TESLA MOBILE SERVICE: Later Tuesday, an employee of Tesla Mobile Service came to our home to top up the windshield wiper fluid in my Model S, below, after a dashboard message alerted me the supply was low.

Pandemic idles paving work at H Mart, apartment construction at old Record site

NO SALE: The new H Mart on Bergen Turnpike in Little Ferry is marooned in a sea of paving material behind a wall of concrete blocks, above and below, but work to level and finish the parking lot of the Korean supermarket and the rest of the new shopping center appears to have been suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

260 BERGEN TURNPIKE: The 14.6-acre shopping center site is owned by 250 Little Ferry TL LLC of Englewood Cliffs and assessed at $12.5 million. The owner paid $407,500 in property taxes in 2019.

GARDEN APARTMENTS: Garden apartments border the construction site, above and below.

OLD H MART: In front of the old H Mart on Wednesday, the only sign of activity was this excavation power shovel being operated atop a huge pile of paving material, above and below.

CLOSED JULY 31: The old H Mart in Little Ferry closed last July 31, forcing customers to drive to the chain's Korean supermarkets in Ridgefield or Fort Lee until the new store opens.

IDLE BUILDING SITES: Meanwhile, at the old site of The Record in Hackensack, above right and below, I saw no activity on Wednesday, postponing the dreams of the original owners, the Borg family, of further riches. They sold North Jersey Media Group, their newspaper-and-magazine publishing company, to Gannett for nearly $40 million in cash in July 2016, but held onto nearly 20 acres along River Street.

RUSSO DEVELOPMENT: The Borgs have partnered with Russo Development, based in Carlstadt. The company website says Vermella Hackensack at 150 River St. will include 653 luxury apartments (studio to 3 bedrooms) and 17,000 square feet of retail, with the first phase to open by 2021.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON